Well, then...Fix the GBL...

[stg2010 front office]

Kaval and Outcalt are gone.

YOU are the new commissioner of the GBL.

What does the league HAVE to do, HAVE to have, in order to become the Atlantic League of the West?

Let's see some bullet points...

[Silver Sox Fan]

Bottom line is front office has to get everyone on board. For example, have all teams agree to a commitment to the fans that includes things that make everyone better. I'll take a hack at this with just 3 quick ideas:

1. Improve community involvement. As many point out and as I can tell you from Reno, you need to get out in the community an it is not being done very well. I would go to all the craft fairs and local events with a booth set up giving away free hats or other trinkets. The logo has to be out there for buzz to be created. Have it built into player contracts that they have to do 3-5 community events where they sign autographs, work with kids, or are guest speakers (for the former MLB guys) at little league/HS events where they tell their stories. And front office folks need to have a seat at rotary and other community organizations. Lots more ideas, but you get the idea. The owners have to be willing to do this as it improves the overall quality of the league.

2. Create a mini-fantasy baseball game with prizes from sponsors. Like fans pick 2 hitters and 2 pitchers weekly and the best score(s) after all tie breaking rules are followed get something. Then, your top individuals from all teams get on field recognition at the end of the year plus another prize.

3. Pay players and sponsors. Seems easy but revenue is an issue. I believe this, though, is an investment in the future. So when you bring in a new owner, thoroughly vet him/her. Maybe even put money in escrow. The bottom line is all businesses run in the red for some time with start up costs. Owners have to have the capital to do that while waiting for the business to finally enter the black. Econ 101 stuff. But I bet your team gets better when players get paid and tell their buddies and the city looks to keep you when the businesses in town are on your side rather than pursuing litigation to get the money rightfully owed to them.

So those are a just three. I'd love to hear others because this problem can be solved. It is just a matter of making sure the teams' stake holders (fans, sponsors, city leaders, etc) know you are there, value that you are there, and then want to keep you there.

Of course, the wild card is that this has to apply to all teams or you get what happened this year...massive player movement, traveling teams, cancelled games, unpaid sponsors, etc. The League has to keep everyone in line and look long term on who they bring in. But if you keep the ownership circles as exclusive as they should be and make their responsibility to the league part of the cost of doing business, everyone will do better...the rising tide lifts all boats.

[Texasrangers13]

Simply put: Get the players to play the game for fair wages, and get the fans to enjoy the game on a daily basis. Quit with this expansion into Mexico/Hawaii. Keep the costs down (Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria can handle playing each-other 40 times a season).

So here it goes... (I'm going with 8 teams, AKA removing Maui and Tijuana)

First: 120 Game Season (May 1st-September 1st) That's 133 days, 120 Games during that span. 13 days off, 2 of those days for a league "showcase" (all-star) game. No off-days Thursday-Sunday (these are the profit-driving days). The Canadian division plays each-other 40 times, 20 home/20 away, they play the other 4 teams in the league 80 times, 20 vs each (10 home/10 away). I'm ok with 5-game series to keep travel cost to a minimum.

Second: Salary Scales $2000-$3000 per month (On-par with AA-AAA), 22 man-rosters, meaning the team owes a maximum of $66,000 per month to players. Furthermore, I love the way the Arena Football League is handling salaries with 3 players being designated as MEDIA players and making $1000 a game. What i'd propose is that the former MLB players or local stars can be tabbed as media players, and make the rounds to schools etc in exchange for a bump in pay. Meaning the team must make around $100,000-$150,000 to break-even every month. In order to do this I will assume $10 tickets for the 15 home games a month, a team would need to average around 1,000 PAYING fans a game (reasonable beyond a doubt). The key is to get good deals from cities on renting or leasing the stadium. Another potential idea is to move teams onto college campuses. Yes you cannot sell beer, but most campuses are willing to lease a stadium for much less in exchange for professional service/groundskeeping.

Three: Work with each city to make sure the team is well-promoted and thought of. The key to success in any market is to ask for fans involvement and reward them. If the stadium needs a new paint job, put out fliers for fans to come help paint and get free tickets. The fans will come.

Four: Quit expanding until all 8 markets are settled. They explore regions that are untapped, or underused. The biggest I see is Tri-Valley, CA (Livermore Area), yes it needs a ballpark, but it has the land, and it is a natural rival for Chico.

[JFeld127]

All GBL player contracts already include a provision that says a player must to 3-4 appearances each season, but because the contracts are only valid from basically Day 1 of the season, so May 21, through the end of the season, so Sept 7ish, there is not really any time for players do a lot of these appearances -- and when there is time, it's up to the front offices to book these events, something that isn't done too much. One thing that teams should do more of are the interactive camps/clinics like the Armada's old Boy Scout overnight campout and baseball clinic the next morning. Fans love those things.

[WallysWorld]

Too many games during the season! Cut the season back down to around 80 games from early June to late August. No Monday and Tuesday (and even Wednesday) games. Weeknight games are badly attended in Calgary while during Friday to Sunday games, the attendance is double or triple. As suggested above, I think moving to 120 games will kill the Alberta teams due to our climate. The weeknights remain chilly here until at least early June. The PCL (Calgary Cannons) couldn't survive here with their long season starting in May.

Get another team in Canada whether in BC or Saskatchewan. Have an all-Canadian division that still plays some games against US teams. 40 games out of an 80 game season against three other Canadian teams is feasible without boring the fans too much. 40 of 80 games against just two Canadian teams is not. The Northern League wanted the two Alberta teams to play each other almost half the season.

[stg2010 front office]

some good ideas here, folks.

Kaval? Outcalt? Hello? Are you guys listening?

If you have any intention of keeping the GBL a viable entity you'd better be listening.

[smallballfan]

Have you ever met Kaval or Outcalt? They don't listen to anybody.

They'll drag the league through the end of this season, declare it a huge success and hope over the winter that everybody forgets what happened this year. They'll find some other suckers for new ownership (they're always out there) and line their pockets for another year of the Ponzi scheme, like someone before said.

Fans, sponsors, players, staff - nobody matters. Only the ability to keep getting those ownership fees.

This is the story every single year in the GBL. Has been, will be. Read the newspaper archives of any GBL city, or even these message boards. None of the stuff being posted here is new news.

No idea why anyone even cares about this league anymore. How many times can one get burned? Guess we'll find out.